Discreet Acquires Unreal Pictures

Discreet Acquires Unreal Pictures

Discreet, a division of Autodesk Inc., today announced the acquisition of Unreal Pictures, developer of the award-winning character animation tool known as character studio. The transaction provides Discreet with patents and core character studio technology.

Renowned Unreal Pictures research software scientists Dr. Michael Girard and Susan Amkraut, along with developer Michael Zyracki, will join Discreet as a result of this transaction. The team of engineering veterans will continue to work with Discreets core animation development team located in San Francisco, CA and Montreal, Quebec.

"Together our two organizations are better positioned to fulfill our common vision of making character animation accessible to a far broader range of users," says Michael Girard, president of Unreal Pictures.

Available as an extension to Discreets professional 3D animation software, 3ds max, character studio allows artists to create advanced character animations, simplify complex animation tasks and incorporate motion capture data into animation production workflows.